I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

Xue Jing was sitting in the passenger seat, scrolling through his phone. Hearing this, he nodded and said:

"It's been sent... Just like you thought, it's a 'joint exam'."

Ning Yuantai scratched his head: "As expected... I knew your transfer to the Seventh Metropolitan Area wouldn't be anything good."

Joint examinations involve placing students from multiple examination rooms together in a controlled area, creating a battle royale-like scenario.

Although the rules for each joint test differ, without exception, they are all brutal and dangerous tests with extremely high casualty rates.

"For this martial arts exam, there are a total of 79 exam venues in Yincheng. Among them, venues numbered 9, 29, 36, 41, and 52 will be combined with exam venues in other cities within the inner ring for a cross-city joint exam."

"The location is... at the intersection of G651 - 'Sea of ​​Steel Trees'."

Xue Jing scrolled through the documents sent to his phone and read them aloud.

"Huh? It's actually this place?" Ning Yuantai exclaimed in surprise.

"Wow... the government of the Seventh Metropolitan Area is going to play it really hard."

Before Xue Jing could even reach the information about the 'Sea of ​​Steel', he looked at Ning Yuantai and asked:

"What, is this place special?"

Ning Yuantai nodded and said, "To be precise, each border area is actually quite special... The Steel Tree Sea is one of the most environmentally harsh ones."

Xue Jing reached out and rested his hand on the car window sill, tapping it with his index finger: "Tell me about it."

"This place... although the environment is not as extreme as the 'Burning Garden' where the temperature is above 300 degrees Celsius, the climate is actually quite suitable for human survival."

"But the key point is that there's nothing in that place that no one can eat."

Ning Yuantai sighed.

"The Sea of ​​Steel is a world filled with 'iron'... The land is an aggregate of metallic minerals, and all living beings are 'iron-based creatures' whose existence is incomprehensible. Everywhere you look, there are Transformers-like things..."

"Even the plants are all 'iron-based plants,' and you can easily see the miracle of iron trees blooming there, which is the origin of the name 'Sea of ​​Steel Trees.'"

Xue Jing's expression was strange: "It's already 'iron-based,' can it still be called a 'plant'?"

Ning Yuantai explained, "After all, their appearance is very similar to plants on Earth... and there is no other suitable name for them at the moment."

"In short... that place is not suitable for humans."

"Or rather, any carbon-based life form that requires a metabolic cycle is unsuitable for the Sea of ​​Steel, where there is nothing that carbon-based life forms can eat or digest."

Xue Jing said thoughtfully, "I see."

He vaguely understood what the person who designed this exam was trying to do.

"Since the Sea of ​​Steel has been chosen as the examination location, there must be a rule that we cannot bring too much food in."

Ning Yuantai asserted.

"It will probably be a situation where each person can only bring one serving of food, which will be eaten up quickly, and then they will have to steal food from other people."

"This forces students to kill each other... The martial arts exam in the Seventh Metropolitan Area is still the same old thing."

Xue Jing flipped through a few pages of the document and, sure enough, found the rule introduction page with the entry: "Each candidate and examiner is only allowed to bring one serving of officially allocated food. No edible substances are allowed to be hidden. A thorough body search will be conducted before entry."

Xue Jing rubbed his chin, his eyes flickering, as if he had thought of something...

However, putting that aside for the moment, Xue Jing spoke up:

"This arrangement is very interesting."

“A situation where there is absolutely no food will exacerbate many difficulties.”

"It's not just about how to get enough to eat, but also about making various choices that test one's character and wisdom. It's very good for training people. The martial arts exam in the Seventh Metropolitan Area is really something."

Martial artists have an exaggerated appetite.

Energy doesn't just disappear or appear out of thin air. The superhuman power of a martial artist requires a huge supply of energy.

Some highly skilled martial artists can go without food, drink, or sleep for ten days, half a month, or even several months, but the prerequisite for doing so is that they do not consume energy.

In other words, it means not using force.

Once a martial artist engages in combat, their energy is rapidly depleted. No matter how powerful a martial artist is, if they were to fight with all their might before attempting to fast, they would starve to death in no time.

Normally, bringing some special pills or liquids with high nutritional value and high energy can help, but the exam rules require that students and examiners are not allowed to bring any edible substances.

In this way, the candidates in the Steel Tree Sea will have to make a choice.

If I were to attack other test-takers, the amount of food I could grab wouldn't be worth the energy I would expend in the fight.

If I don't take action, what will the other side think?

Food, consumption, scores, suspicions... all sorts of complex situations would make even the most straightforward test-takers in the Seventh Metropolitan Area itch to think.

"However... my situation is a little different."

Xue Jing's eyes revealed a smile.

"We'll see when the time comes... Let's meet these students first."

The car drove smoothly towards examination room number nine.

According to the information Xue Jing saw, the joint examination would begin tomorrow.

After the process begins, the examiners will first conduct three days of training for the students to build rapport, discuss and formulate plans, and so on.

Three days later, it will be time to officially enter the Borderland Steel Tree Sea, where a seven-day exam will be held.

At this point in time, students who are taking this martial arts exam seriously should have already arrived at the examination venue.

……

Yincheng, the ninth examination hall for the martial arts exam, Xuanwu Mansion.

This is a mansion built by the Yincheng government specifically for the martial arts exam candidates to live in every year. At the entrance, there is a three-meter-tall black tortoise statue with a tortoise and snake intertwined, which is quite artistic and seems to be the work of a master.

At this moment, several teenagers were gathered together in the open space of the training ground inside the mansion.

"So, how's my plan going?"

One of the round-faced boys looked around at everyone and spoke.

"Are you sure you can do it? That guy is known as the 'strongest in history,' it won't be easy, will it?"

The girl with thick eyebrows said with a worried expression.

"Hmph, it's just the 'strongest in history' competition. If this kind of competition were held in our Seventh Metropolitan Area, no one would even glance at it. It's not worth mentioning at all."

"This exam is clearly crucial for us, but the higher-ups suddenly assigned an outsider to be our examiner, and he's even a minor... It's really insane. I thought it would at least be Wu Yinglong, or Gongsun Cheng... or at the very least, Ye Tianling!"

The round-faced boy complained.

"Without good examiners, we definitely won't get good scores and won't be able to get into those universities... This is simply playing with our future!"

"We must prove that this Xue Jing is incapable of leading us and force the higher-ups to replace the examiners, otherwise we will be wasting our lives!"

He glanced at another boy who looked somewhat shifty-eyed, glared at him, and asked:

"He Han, what do you say?"

The boy named He Han looked completely innocent: "Can I not participate?"

He paused for a moment and then explained, "It's not that I'm scared, it's just that I just started a new playthrough in Baldur's 3 and I'm in a rush. Can we do it tomorrow?"

The round-faced boy narrowed his eyes and said, "What nonsense are you talking about... Forget it, I never expected anything from you anyway. If you don't want to work here, then leave."

Upon hearing this, He Han stood up without hesitation and walked out, saying, "Then I'll slip away, you guys~"

"Wait a moment."

The round-faced boy looked at his retreating figure and squinted as he said:

"You're not going to tell on us, are you?"

He Han turned around: "What are you saying? My mouth is tighter than Zhou Yu's, and I have a good reputation in the martial arts world. How could I do such a thing!"

The round-faced boy nodded and said, "That's good."

……

Chapter 319 Gardener and Flowers: Students Planted in the Ground by Xue Jing Upon Meeting (4K)

A black SUV with military license plates slowly arrived in front of Xuanwu Mansion.

A middle-aged man in security uniform quickly emerged from the guard booth at the entrance.

The car window rolled down, and the security guard looked towards the driver's seat with a puzzled expression, asking:

"What's the matter with you two?"

Just as Ning Yuantai was about to reveal Xue Jing's identity as examiner number nine, a shout came from inside the Xuanwu Mansion:

"Uncle Zhang!"

A short-haired boy, who was fairly handsome but had a strangely shifty and sly expression, and gave off a slightly frivolous vibe, ran over quickly, leaped over the gate with a flourish, and arrived in front of the SUV.

The boy peeked into the SUV, his gaze skipping over Ning Yuantai in the driver's seat and landing on Xue Jing in the passenger seat.

Upon seeing Xue Jing, his eyes immediately lit up. He turned to the middle-aged security guard and explained, "Uncle, this is the examiner for our examination room. Please open the door."

The security guard paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, okay."

He turned back to the guard booth, and soon the gate to the mansion slowly opened.

Xue Jing looked at the boy standing outside the car window and asked with a smile, "Are you an examinee?"

The boy said with a grin, "Hello, Teacher Xue! My name is He Han."

Xue Jing paused slightly, then noticed the clothes worn by the boy named He Han.

It was a white t-shirt called an "itashita"... Simply put, it's a shirt with your favorite anime character printed on it.

Xue Jing had been exposed to many ACG works, but he couldn't recognize who the white-haired person printed on the clothes was.

Noticing Xue Jing's gaze, He Han tugged at his clothes with his fingers and explained, "This is my wife, Luna Sakurakoji."

This shameless and self-righteous attitude made Xue Jing's lips twitch slightly: "...Classmate, get in the car, let's talk."

He Han grinned and said, "Okay!"